PM rules out energy or financial crisis in Portugal

Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa has ruled out the scenario of a financial and energy crisis in Portugal and believes that the country can face the future with confidence.

We will have a safety net in 2023 regarding the extraordinary increases in energy prices because of the uncertainties that exist” he said.
“What I mean by this is that I can safely say that even if the price of gas doubles over the next year, that increase will not be greater than 13%. This is the safety net that we have. If it doesn’t double, it could actually even fall. If it does double, the cost will increase by 13%” he said.
The statements were made in Viana do Castelo at a dinner organised by SEDES (The Association for the Economic and Social Development of the Alto Minho).
It came was it was announced that the price of diesel fuel for motorists should start to fall from Monday according to SIC TV citing sector sources.
It will be the third consecutive week that diesel will be cheaper. Last Monday, the price of diesel fell two cents and petrol 1.5 cents. The previous week diesel had fallen by six cents per litre and petrol by one cent. And from Monday, (7 Nov) diesel will go down by 4 cents but petrol will go up 2.5 cents. Diesel is still 17.2% higher than it was in February this year at €1.941 per litre. Petrol at €1.813 per litre is in line with February prices.
However, the outgoing CEO of Galp – Portugal’s oil and gas producer and refiner – Andy Brown warned at Web Summit on Thursday that the days of cheap energy may be over.
“I think we are entering a period in which cheap energy will cease to exist. There will have to be massive changes to our consumer habits and the way in which we use energy and we will have to get used to this intense volatility” he said at Web Summit on the ‘Energy in Europe – What’s next?’ panel.
Andy Brown said the current price of energy was as much down to chronic under investment as it was to the War in Ukraine.
“The price of energy before the war was higher than now, the price of gas at the end of last year was higher than now, so we have to loom at the entire spectrum”, (and not just the war)
The reason for this, said Andy Brown, is that energy companies have been investing in renewables and green energy, but not in oil and gas at a time when the green alternatives are not yet prepared to take over supplying energy needs.